Saturday, October 03, 2009

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"The process began with the creation of the White House office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport in February. The office has a broader brief than winning the Olympic bid for Chicago; its stated goal is to promote Olympic values and promote youth participation in athletics. But its most important mission—spurred by several people with strong ties to senior White House staff—was to ensure that the U.S. put the same kind of high-level political muscle behind the American bid for the games that other countries around the world did. That support found its strongest voice in Valerie Jarrett, who heads the White House Olympic office, and is both a close friend to the Obamas and the president's senior adviser. Jarrett had once worked for Mayor Daley in Chicago, and recruited Michelle Obama to work alongside her there. So it made perfect sense in the original plan for the First Lady and Jarrett to represent the White House in Copenhagen. As the president said just two weeks ago on the South Lawn of the White House, 'I would make the case in Copenhagen personally, if I weren't so firmly committed to making real the promise of quality, affordable health care for every American. But the good news is I'm sending a more compelling superstar to represent the city and country we love, and that is our First Lady, Michelle Obama.' Within a week, that position was beginning to change as Mayor Daley pressed his case for a presidential pitch, which would put the country’s leader alongside his global counterparts." (TheDailyBeast)



"Sony grabbed the two top boxoffice rungs Friday, as action comedy 'Zombieland' stalked an estimated $9.4 million in its first day and the distributor's leggy 3D animated feature "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" served up $3.7 million. The 'Zombieland' tally was on the lower end of prerelease expectations, with the Woody Harrelson starrer now challenged to reach a forecasted range for its opening of $25 million-$30 million. But 'Meatballs' looks headed for another meaty session and totes cumulative domestic boxoffice of $69.3 million through 15 days in release. Elsewhere in the daily pecking order, Disney may not have a studio chief pending a successor to the recently ousted Dick Cook, but two of its films figured among Friday's top five boxoffice performers." (TheHollywoodReporter)



"For the intensely private Mr. Letterman, the revelations, which resulted from a bizarre extortion attempt, are sure to be extremely embarrassing, especially as he tries to extend his lead in the late-night contest. 'I have had sex with women who work for me on this show,' he told his audience on Thursday night, calling himself
'creepy.' He added that he hoped 'to protect my job.' More seriously, they raised questions for both his company and CBS about whether his actions constituted sexual harassment or at least abuse of a power relationship over employees. A central figure in the case — one of the women who did have a sexual relationship with Mr. Letterman, according to representatives of the show — is Mr. Letterman’s longtime personal assistant, Stephanie Birkitt, who also often appeared on the air. The sexual relationships had ended before Mr. Letterman was married in March, a Worldwide Pants executive said. For CBS, the episode is doubly embarrassing. The network has been put in a precarious position of trying to steer clear of fallout from some highly questionable activities engaged in by its biggest star, who is experiencing his biggest surge in popularity (and ratings) in years." (NYTimes)



"Last night Dollhouse slipped to a series low 0.8/3 with adults 18-49 and averaged 2.1 million viewers. Night’s full details coming soon. Sure, it was a very slow Friday for broadcast where the night’s highest rated show with adults 18-49, Medium, pulled only a 1.8 rating with adults 18-49 .. Last night Medium averaged 7.719 million in preliminary numbers. But that’s not good news for Dollhouse. And sure, Syfy airing Stargate Universe (we will hopefully see the numbers for it later today, if not, I’m sure we’ll see them Monday) couldn’t have helped, but dropping below a 1.0 can’t be what FOX had in mind with its lower expectations for Friday. And people bailed on Dollhouse out of ‘Till Death! The half hour viewer numbers for FOX just got worse each half hour between 8p-10p (2.42M, 2.29M, 2.19M, 1.99M). FOX didn’t edge The CW by much on the night in either viewers or adults 18-49, and The CW’s night included an hour of an encore of America’s Next Top Model." (TVBytheNumbers)

No comments: